Halo Infinite was released over a month ago, and ever since then, the number of players checking out the game has been considerable. As the first mainline entry in the series in over 6 years, the hype surrounding the title was understandable. While several issues have frustrated players post-launch, the population of the game appears to be doing quite well.
Since Halo Infinite was released, various sources have given fans an idea about the popularity of the title. For example, it quickly became the most downloaded free-to-play title on the Microsoft Store following the launch of the multiplayer. This was an impressive accomplishment as it beat out other popular shooters, such as Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. In addition, Halo Infinite became the most successful Xbox Game Studios title on Steam. While these statistics gave gamers a decent indication of the popularity of the first-person shooter, new information from 343 Industries has helped confirm the massive number of players that have logged in to play the game over the last couple of months.
In a message on January 25, the official Halo Twitter account announced that over 20 million players had played Halo Infinite so far. According to the company, this was the largest launch for a Halo game in franchise history. In addition to revealing this information, it acknowledged its community for supporting the game. “Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the next step in this great journey,” the message read.
Since posting this momentous news on Twitter, numerous fans have responded. With over 20.3K likes in only a couple of hours, many were happy to see the franchise succeeding. In addition, even the official Xbox Twitter account got in on the action. “It’s a good thing Zeta Halo is huge,” it responded. However, others asked the developer to address problems facing the Halo Infinite player base lest the population begin to diminish.
This achievement was no small feat as the franchise has spawned many standout titles over the years, such as Halo 3 which broke records on the Xbox 360. However, it is worth noting that while the campaign for Halo Infinite is $60 (it is also available on Xbox Game Pass), the multiplayer component is free-to-play. As a result, the barrier to entry has been lowered, allowing more people to check out the title and possibly contributing to the higher player count compared to previous games in the franchise.
Nevertheless, these numbers appear to be good news for the Halo franchise. It will be interesting to see what the developers at 343 Industries have in store for Halo Infinite in the weeks ahead.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.